Garment rack



Deco 12, 1950 I A. M. MENDLE 2,533,324

GARMENT RACK Filed 001;. a, 1945 INVENTOR.

ALVIN M.MENDLE ATTORNEZ.

Patented Dec. 12, 1950 UNITED STATES OFFICE GARMENT RACK the UnitedStates Application October 8, 1945, Serial No. 621,113

This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvementsin garment racks.

Garment racks have ordinarily consisted of pipe-like or tubular memberswhich are threadedly engaged by suitable fittings and when set up foroperative use cannot be simply or conveniently disassembled. So far as Iam aware, all existing garment racks actually require a certain amountof mechanical skill and the aid of mechanical tools both during assemblyand disassembly. Because of their rather bulky nature, garment rackscannot be readily shipped or transported in assembled condition. As aresult, traveling salesmen in the garment industry cannot ordinarilycarry such items with them and are forced to use various make-shifts andsubstitutes if the hotel rooms or sample rooms in which they arefrequently called upon to work are not equipped with fully assembledgarment racks. In addition, manufacturers frequently have need for arelatively large number of racks during seasonal peaks and at otherperiods of the year or so-called ofi seasons do not need so many racks 1Claim. (Cl. 211177) form of garment rack constructed in accordance withand embodying my present invention;

Figures 2, 3, and 4 are fragmentary sectional views taken alonglines2--2, 3-3, and 4-4, respectively, of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 55 of Figure3; and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modified form of garmentrack also constructed in accordance with and embodying the presentinvention.

Referring now in more detail and by reference characters to the drawing,which illustrates practical embodiments of the present invention, A

upon their display floors, in which case they are at present required topush the empty and rather unsightly garment racks 01f to one side orinto a corner of the display floor at the sacrifice both of appearanceand wasted space because it would entail far too much difficulty andlabor to knock down or disassemble the extra garment racks when not inuse.

It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to providea new and unique type of garment rack which is extremely simple andeconomical in construction and is unusually strong and rigid whenassembled into operative condition, but is nevertheless capable of beingvery quickly and simply assembled or disassembled without requiringmechanical skill or mechanical tools for such purpose.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a garmentrack of the type stated which is rugged and durable yet light in weightand readily disassembled for convenient portability and transportationfrom place to place and storage within relatively small space when notin use.

And with the above andother objects in view, my invention resides in thenovel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination ofparts presently described and pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a perspective view of apreferred designates a garment rack including a base-forming assembly orunit b which comprises a central or main tubular bar I seated at itsopposite ends in, and welded to, the lateral arms 2, 2, of T- shapedstamped fittings 3, 3. The fitting 3, 3, is also integrally providedwith two oppositely presented side arms, 4, 4, 4', 4, each for receivingoutwardly extending tubular foot bars 5, 5, 5', 5', which are seated andwelded therein. In this connection it may be noted that the several arms2, 2, Al, i, are all of inverted U-shape in horizontal cross-section andare held in place by fillet-welds w, 10 bars 5, 5', may, if desired, beprovided with conventional casters C, so that the rack A, when assembledand loaded, may be conveniently pushed from place to place.

The stampings 3, 3', are upwardly relieved at their center portions, asat c, and provided with circular apertures 6, t3, surrounded by an in-'verted semi-bead l. Disposed within, and extending upwardly from, eachof the apertures 6, is a sleeve 8 provided at its lower end with anoutwardly curled flange 9 for disposition within the semi-bead l andsecurement thereto by means of a circular fillet-weld W. The sleeves 8are upwardly and outwardly tapered for receiving the complementarilytapered ends of tubular uprights ID, which are, in turn, similarlytapered at their upper ends for tight fitting engagement in thedownwardly presented tapered recesses H of top fittings 52, which may beforged, cast, or fabricated in any other suitable or conventionalmanner. As will be noted by reference to Figure 5, the lower tapered endof the tubular uprights II] are substantially shorter than theinternally tapered socket-forming sleeves 8 so that the bottom faces ofthe uprights it will be supported in substantially upwardly spacedrelation to the lower outwardly flared ends of the sleeves 8 thuspreventing unauthorized accidental spreading of the inserted At theirouter ends, the foot ends of the uprights In so that the latter mayalways be readily removed when it is desired to dismantle the rack A.

Extending through the upper portion of each of the top fittings i2 andopening upon the oppositely presented end faces e thereof, is ahorizontal bore 13, which is diametrally enlarged at its ends in theprovision of circular weld grooves g. Disposed at its ends in the boresl3 and extending horizontally between the top fittings l2, is a tubularhanger rod l4 rigidly secured in place by circular fillet-welds w wwhich are run into the weld grooves g, the outwardly presented welds wand the outwardly presented ends of the rod [4 being smoothly faced offflush with the outwardly presented or corresponding end faces 6 toreceive an end trimming button 15 formed preferably of plastic or anyother suitable material and having a diametrally reduced plug portion I6sized for tight fitting disposition within the ends of the rod 14, allas best seen in Figure 2. It will, of course, be apparent that thehanger rod l4 and the top fittings 12 rigidly associated therewith ma bequickly and conveniently removed from the uprights by a couple of sharplight blows upon the under side and thereupon the two uprights. I!) maybe similarly removed from the base unit b. The entire rack A may thus bequickly and conveniently disassembled into four component elementscapable of compact packaging, storage, and handling. In addition, theease of assembly and disassembly makes it possible to ship such racksfrom the factory to the user in a compact package and the user, in turn,may quickly assemble the rack without any great difiiculty and withoutthe necessity of using mechanical tools. Thereafter, the rack may bedisassembled and re-assembled as many times as the user findsconvenient. Finally, whenever the rack is assembled for use, it will befound to be firm and rigid and will even be more secure than theconventional types of racks. In fact, the weight of the garments, whichare hung from the hanger rod M, will tend to force the tapered fittingsmore tightly together and will increase, rather than decrease, therigidity and stability of the entire structure.

If desired, a modified form of rack A may be provided which is identicalin all respects to the previously described rack A, except that it isprovided with foot bars 18 which are closed and flattened at their outerends, as at H), in the provision of a more or less stationary ornon-rollable structure.

It should be understood that changes and modifications in the form,construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of thegarment rack may be made and substituted for those herein shown anddescribed without departing from the nature and principle of myinvention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

A rack comprising a base member including a central bar, a pair ofT-shaped stamped fittings each having a downwardly opening U-shapedlateral arm and downwardly opening U-shaped side arms extending inco-axial alignment on opposite sides of and at right angles to thelateral arm, said fittings each also having an upwardly presented,internally tapered socket-forming sleeve rising from the region ofjuncture between the lateral arm and side arms said sleeve beinginternally enlarged and spread at its bottom, the lateral arms of saidfittings being disposed around and rigidly secured to the opposite endsrespectively of the central bar, a foot bar rigidly secured in andextending through the side arms of each fitting, a cross bar provided atits opposite ends with fittings having downwardly presented taperedrecesses adapted for alignment, each with one of said sleeves, and apair of uprights having tapered upper ends for removable dispositionwithin said recesses and having tapered lower ends for removabledisposition within said sleeves for holding the cross bar in upwardlyspaced parallel relation to the base member, said tapered lower endsbeing substantially shorter than the sleeves so that the lower ends ofthe uprights will be supported upwardly out of contact with the footbars.

ALVIN M. MENDLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 445, 633 Becker Feb. 3, 18911,008,477 Kohn Nov. 14, 1911 1,015,448 Madden Jan. 23, 1912 1,088,128Cleary et a1 Feb. 24, 1914 1,322,901 Heinlein, Sr Nov. 25, 19191,703,601 Shipway Feb. 26, 1929 1,972,282 Wittstein Sept. 4, 19341,984,001 Tanzer et a1 Dec. 11, 1934 1,991,397 Lampman Feb. 19, 19352,263,579 Hokanson Nov. 25, 1941

